The Netherlands faces a 1-0 deficit against Poland at halftime. Rafael van der Vaart makes the analysis for the NOS the three defenders Hans Hateboer, Daley Blind and Stefan de Vrij completely razed to the ground. According to Van der Vaart, they are guilty of the goal against, and also of giving away other big chances in the first half.

The goal was already in the sixth minute, when Hans Hateboer lost the ball on the sidelines deep in the half of Poland. Poland switched quickly and Robert Lewandowski sent Kamil Jozwiak deep over the left flank. The midfielder sprinted Davy Klaassen out and could walk into the sixteen of the Netherlands, where he also put Daley Blind on the lookout. Jozwiak remained icy calm and sent the ball past goalkeeper Tim Krul: 1-0.

“It is really disastrous”, says Van der Vaart about the defensive performance of the Dutch. “If you take that first goal, everything goes wrong: Hateboer throws in, but is five meters off the field. Klaassen is run out, De Vrij is not short. And Daley has to get out and of course he (goal scorer Jozwiak) outside. force.”

Van der Vaart continues: “They just don’t do anything, this happened four, five times in one half! It was really hopeless.” The analyst asks De Boer to change the three at half-time, but has little hope that that will happen. “If you want to play yourself out of the base, those three in the back will have that … you know what it is: if they had played in the front, those three, they would have just stayed in at half time. Actually, that should have happened now. Does not happen, because that is something of trainers: always strikers. ” Incidentally, Frank de Boer did intervene in one place: Denzel Dumfries came into the field for Hateboer after the break.

Van der Vaart sighs at the end: “I long for Joël Veltman, almost, say …” Veltman did not make a good impression in the friendly match against Spain (1-1) with the goal against the the Dutch. Then Van der Vaart went loose about the center-back of Brighton & Hove Albion at half time. “What Veltman is doing there …”, he said last week. “He does not cover, then he turns like a Boeing, then Spain comes out very easily. Of course the keeper can do more, but it starts with Veltman.”